Hello friends old, new and future! I'm happy to post, on behalf of Lógicas Brasileiras, a review of the 17th CLMPST that took place last week in Buenos Aires (if for nothing else, just to give Elaine a break!). I took this task to heart, so please bear with me. I'm no stranger to blogging, of course, as no millennial girlhood coming of age story is complete without passing through blogger.com (the raíz version, not the nutella one). Back then, tho, we wrote anonymously (or at least shared only with a few other angsty teenagers), so this is a first! Last time I did this, I lived on a golden age and didn't know it: MSN was the means of communication of the youth, orkut was dying, Neopets had its last plot released* and Lula was president. (There is a hope we might be heading to another golden age: Lula is president again, Neopets is set to be revived and some can only hope that X will finally die too, where X=twitter). * I do apologize for all obscure references, but if you know, you know. Staying true to form, my method here will be mostly stream of consciousness; thus this will probably read part travel blog, part intellectual soul searching, part cultural commentary, and part an excuse to make known to the world at large my meme making skills. For authenticity, all images were edited on Fireworks 8: a relic from the early 2000's which I’ve carried continuously with me from the cube-shaped desktop that I shared with my sisters into each new decade. One last note before this journey begins: if anyone wants a high quality version of the photos I took, please let me know. The same if you rather I edit/remove a photo of you from the post. ✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧ Although I am not new to academic tourism, Buenos Aires was my first latin american experience beyond my native borders (if we demarcate this in the usual way). It was interesting to immerse myself in the city, which feels familiar and new at the same time. There are strong Rio vibes (which is foreign enough to me already) but also feels very european. The way of life, though, is an experience of its own. I was mostly struck by the institution of the kiosco. This is where some of the most pressing issues for a tourist are to be resolved (you can, in theory, get a bus card and cellphone chip, and charge these), and although there is literally one at every corner, you would be lucky to find one that attends to your needs. The kiosco that charges the bus card does not sell one, the one that sell do not charge it, most do none of these things. I soon understood the point of the tortoise, sure that no steps would be sufficient to ever reach the end of line. But just like Achilles, I managed (by which I mean Elaine did it). But I'm getting ahead of myself. Sunday. I set off to meet Elaine. We observe the aftermath of an apartment fire (in true brazilian spirit, Elaine made a video of the fire, whistle I only snapped a photo of the aftermath), catch up from when we last saw each other in Salvador at the 20th EBL and meet the rest of her entourage. We try to find a place to lunch, but Parrilla Peña, the recommendation she has at hand, is surprisingly closed. The city seems awfully quiet for a Sunday, echoing more Europe than Brazil (where Sunday lunch is an institution, and restaurants usually close on Mondays instead). We end up @ Aries Criollos and split a parrilla for lunch. Coffee was a 0/5, foreshadowing a difficult week.
For reference, here is my personal coffee ranking system: 0 means that I could not stand to finish drinking it; 1 means I drank it but wish I hadn’t and would not drink again under normal circumstances (but would under apocalyptic ones); 2 means I drank it and would again only for the phytotherapeutic effects; 3 means it was adequate; 4 means I actually liked it and would gladly drink again; 5 means that it’s at least as good as my real brazilian coffee of choice (3 Corações Extraforte, and in absence: São Brás Coffee Shop). After asking for a SUBE card in what feels like the 20th kiosco stop of the day, we manage to acquire them. It takes another 15min to find a place to charge them (the machines at the Subte station are broken; perfectly latin american). We take a bus to San Telmo and browse through the market. Mafalda merchandise is everywhere, as well as old glassware and colorful textiles, but my mission here is to buy my sister earrings made of forbidden bacon crystals (go ahead and google rhodocrosita). I’m reminded of earring shopping with Sara U. in Salvador, and wonder if this is part of the female logician bonding experience. We end up at Plaza de Maio, and split soon after. Monday. With Sube card in hand, I set off to the event venue by bus. There are no turnstyle in the buses there, so I assumed (european style) that I just scan my card, sit, follow the trajectory on Google maps, get out of the bus, find coffee near the event, and check in. The hitch in this plan is that the bus driver asks me a question which on the spot I neither understood nor could pretend to answer. Embracing being a gringa for the first time in my life, me fiz de doida and the bus driver punched a button to charge for the ride. By the time I got to a seat, I inferred that I was supposed to inform him of the stop I would get out, which was later confirmed by Edson. A gaffe, but I'm a fast learner. The coffee shop in the corner advertises brazilian coffee, thus I allow myself to declare my order in a confident portunhol. The place is full of other gringos, which assures me I am indeed in the right place. The cappuccino at Café Martinez was a 1, and I feel personally offended that they advertise this as brazillian coffee. I check in, very impressed by the whole QR code thing. My name tag includes "Fernandes", which usually doesn't; but instead of having it reprinted, I take the cue from the universe and embrace my latina half for the week. Next: I check the goodies in the conference bag, as if it were christmas day. There is a bag inside a bag, very meta. And what bags these are. I assume the small one is to carry cash around. The pen is thick tipped, so not my favorite, and there are only a few blank pages on the event booklet (which makes me glad I brought a blank new notebook to the event). The thermos makes up for all of this, though. Glorious. At the opening session I greet the always faithful Brazilian crowd: Wagner S., Jonas B. A., Cezar M. and Marcos Silva. There was discussion of representation in metrics, but more than numbers, the event did feel more diverse than others that I've attended. Which could be, of course, either by random sampling or by some intention on my part. The ratio of talks I listened to broken up by sex is 40/60, which does surprise me positively, especially given how many female logicians I got the chance to listen to (whoever has not been the only lógica in a room, cast the first stone.) I did feel like some practical information was missing from the intro session, such as the location of the rooms and of the coffee break, as well as general directions to the reception. At the plenary talk I met Sara U. and Thomas F. After a shared feeling that we had met before, he taught me the neatest trick about how to figure this out: he just searched for my name on his email. Brilliant. I enjoyed Helen L.’s talk very much, as I’m also interested in the topic of alternative theoretical virtues in science. It made me have an idea for a paper that I could have written for the special issue that Sara is organizing. Too little, too late, but it felt special to think of this sitting next to Sara herself! In the lunch break I head off with Sara and João Marcos to struggle more with kioscos, with moderate success. The afternoon schedule starts with saying hi to Catarina D. N., who seems to remember me. I first saw her in my first logic conference back in 2013 and first met her in 2019 in Bergen. She’s in too high demand so I don’t get to chat with her much, but maybe next time! Her talk is great as always and I just bask in her wisdom. I run over to room 01 to listen to folk talk about justification, creative reasoning, abduction and the like. This seems like a good place to tell you about my game plan for the conference. For those who do not know me: I think, say and write about (with differing degrees of intensity) why logical anti-exceptionalism (AE) is not a good idea. The idea being that “logic is like science” and “we should borrow the epistemology of science to figure out the epistemology of logic” (crude, I know, but this is the gist). The most common approach within AE is to use “abduction” or “IBE”. My hunch is that this does not work #readmythesis and moreover, the AE are mistaken about what abduction/IBE is and does. So now I entertain the assumptions that “logic might not be unlike other disciplines in seeking a method of theory revision”, that “it is possible that philosophy of science has some bearing in the epistemology of logic insofar as maybe logical theories do say something about unobservables”, and the epistemology of science did not end with Lipton. So my aim is to mingle with philosophers of science, hear what they are up to, and report back. My strategy quickly bears results. After being blown away by Atocha’s talk, I walk over with JM and Michele F. to the reception. We talk about learning logic, playgrounds and horses. There, I’m impressed to see that even in an event with 600 people, the logic community is pretty tight. I decide to snap photos and surprise friends. We swap war stories until the place runs out of wine, then head of to Av. Corrientes, after another unlucky pick of a restaurant nearby was closed. Tuesday. I start my day with a latte again at the coffee shop in the corner, which was a 2. Never more. I listen to talks about realism for real people, then head over to room 12 to hear Otávio B. and Catarina D. N. As I’m waiting outside the room for the previous session to end, Itala D. comes up to me and introduces herself, as if I don’t know her, and I just about die. Otávio B. discusses how to study objects that don’t exist, decomposing oranges and confesses to being a pluralist. Catarina says that deductions are not easily found in the wild, and my mind goes here. We have lunch at the long awaited Parrilla Peña, pondering what is the result of subtracting a coffee with milk from a coffee with cream. Lunch makes me late, so I run to room 09 to rehash the Achilles and the tortoise dialogue, hear about progress through concepts and more pragmatist insights into inference. After the coffee break, I’m chairing at room 04. The slide clicker that I have doesn’t work very well, which makes me think I should ditch this Multilaser crap and buy a better one. I will here intercede with a brief rant on a phenomenon that has been observed not just by me. Here's a tip: if a female graduate student is presenting, and her advisor is in the audience, questions should still be addressed to her and not him. If she wants help answering the question, it's up to her to decide. Just some food for thought. Afterhours, we take the metro to Benaim for drinks. I'm also reminded that I'm older than I look. The place runs out of beer, and as most people have already left, we flip a coin to see if we'll join the cool kids at the afterparty. The universe decides and we run over to join the others at El Destello. We stayed until they kicked us out. Wednesday. Under someone’s recommendation, I get my morning coffee @ Havanna. The latte was a 4 and I set off happy. I start my day at room 04, where Jamie S. told a touching story about his personal connection to Feyerabend, which resonated a lot with me, as Feyerabend also showed up in my life in a very auspicious moment. I run over to room 05 just in time to listen to Robby F., who I first met in Bergen in 2019, talk about anti-exceptionalism with a pragmatist twist. The next talk leads to a discussion about spending humanity's time and effort to finish drawing a triangle, and I’m reminded why I love philosophy. Sara takes us to lunch @ MARAL Café-Bar and I’m happy there is something beyond beef and potato on the menu. After the plenary talk, time for me to present to a room of mathematicians. They were a lovely crowd. I spoke more time than I was supposed to, which feels like a personal accomplishment. Marcos Silva asks me a question and later as we talk, makes me confess that in my heart of hearts I don’t believe in what I’ve just argued for. After my talk, I’m surprised to see someone waiting to actually speak to me and I’m not quite ready for this. I chat a bit with Katrina T., and apologize for missing her talk (which in retrospect I know it’s because I was late to return from lunch! A terrible excuse, I know). Here’s my conference self-evaluation checklist for newbies:
For the intermediate version of the list, just add the following:
I head out with Mahan and Sofia to the Havanna café, then I wait around to go to the secret proof theory vip dinner. We meet the others at Las Cholas, and this is me: But really, I sit at the kids table, where I confess to being a mere philosopher, to which the others reply "we would not call ourselves proof theorists either, we do lambda calculus". Ok. Now, if you ever find yourself in a situation like this, I’ve got you covered. Don’t turn this into a drinking game, as it could be dangerous. Thursday. I start my day visiting the pretty building along the main road on the way to the event. It is the Museum of Water and Sanitary History. The name might be a bit off putting, but rest assured that this museum dealt with the clean water end of the business. Not that the other end would have kelp me away either. I have, afterall, visited the sewers of Paris. At the event, I go with Mahan to talk to Otávio B., manage to say 1 smart thing and I'm happy. I head again into the Feyerabend room and I'm blown away by these super cool brazillians that research Feyerabend and I didn't know about. I am especially happy to hear Lília Q. talk and kind of mad at myself for not knowing about her sooner. I'll explain. For the last few months, I've been a part of the organization of the 2nd Brazilian Meeting of Female Analytic Philosophers (along with Sofia and other great people!). We looked and looked for female graduate students working on analytic philosophy (specially of science!) and did not find Lília. The event will be in portuguese, but if you are interested, please do check it out and sign up! I meet up with my crowd, we swap some dinner stories and head over for lunch. Catching P. Kitcher's talk, I regret for the second time not bringing my MST hat to a logic conference. I also feel like he is a millennial at heart and I relate, as I'm not positive either. The official program has the grown ups discussing grown up stuff, so we head out to explore the city, starting at the El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookshop. Some of us wait around to catch a ride to the conference dinner. We didn't stay until midnight and later I found out we were not the last ones to call it a night, so my intention is set to do better on Friday. Friday. I decide to end my philosophy of science expedition and rejoin the logicians. Now, these are my people. They talk fast, have pokemon stickers on their cell phone, use beamer, and talk about grounding (I think they are great, not perfect). This sums up my intellectual journey: Luca C. says that classical logic is a useful dispensable instrument, Camila G. says that truth is a fixed point, Shay L. discusses agreement in logic, rather than disagreement, and Dave R. says he does not run away from metaphysics. These are all sensible people. As we say in my country Nordeste, num foi bom não, foi é a muléstia. I'm thus convinced I should fully embrace logic again, because this is me at this point: I fill the last pages of my notebook, sure that I'll refer back to it in the years to come (as I've done with many other conference notes before!)
For lunch, we run over to the Venezuelan restaurant Peches Magda and the brazilians among us are happy to find a place with rice and beans. In the afternoon I hide away and write postcards, another conference must. I was ready to hate on kioscos forever, but I actually even managed to send the postcards, so I’m not even mad anymore. After the event is over for the day, we meet at the pit. Those of us who cannot stand to eat french fries for dinner yet again go looking for a nice restaurant, which turns us away because we had no reservation. We end up at Parrilla Al Carbon, which by definition is nice because it has Tramontina silverware. Over dinner I discover Bogdan D. is meaner than me; truly aspirational. I chat with Sara and Dave about the early days of the internet (checkout this relic of the brazilian internet), I explain to them the phenomena of orkutização, we teach Dave about whatsapp stickers, and by the end of the night I even make an animated sticker of him dancing (which might have been the high point of this whole trip). We walk back to the pit, where following the sweetest sounds of whispered Rs, I meet Eduarda, another paraibana. We stay until the place closes at midnight, but as Dilmãe says, when we reach the goal we double the goal, so we walk over to Av. Corrientes, which is surprisingly lit and busy still at this hour. During the long walk, I make sure we complete the blogger photo book. We end the night at the Confitería La Ópera. Saturday. I drop off my bag at the event bright and early and head over to the botanical garden, to complete my traveling duties. In the metro there are people selling pens, gum and playing guitar for change, and it feels very familiar. Around every corner, people are handing out leaflets for an upcoming election, but graphic design is not their passion. I find a supermarket on the way and enter to further attest the Europe to Brazil ratio of Buenos Aires, and I must say the supermarket feels brazilian. I buy a coffee @ Cafe del Botánico, which was a 4, and wait for the garden to open. Walk with me. My first goal is to enter the tropical glass house to breathe in air compatible with my well being and get a minute of sweet relief from the dry cold air, but alas, it’s closed. As I meander through the garden, I’m delighted to find the moon. The garden has palm trees and cacti out in the open, attesting I’m indeed in latin america. At the first monstera I see, I’m reminded of my mission here: find plants which I have at home, and compare. By this time, there are kids playing around, people doing tai chi, and teenagers basking in the sun. Testing the limits of the latin american experience, I offer to take a couple's photograph and they do not offer to take one back, as any brazilian would (I do appreciate, Victor!). Peeking through the far end, there are other gardens to explore next time I come around. On the way back to pick up my backpack, I stop at a Havanna café to buy last minute souvenirs. There is a street market around the park. I return to the event when the closing ceremony is about to begin. The caterers are packing to leave, the rooms are locked, the tables are empty. A familiar feeling of mission accomplished is in the air. I snap a picture with JM on an empty hallway and reflect that this has been the celebration of 10 years of us going to logic events together. So here’s one last conference tip: be weird, make friends and take pictures of it all. Retrospecting over these last few days I’ve been nothing but glad of the pictures I have, and regretful of the ones I don’t. At the closing ceremony, as we thank all those who organized the event and those who executed it (the volunteers were amazing!), I think of the intellectual tradition of sharing alcohol and coffee, but I’m beaten to it by the speakers. I reflect back on what a week this has been. I've bonded over shared lip balm, heartaches, medication, dread of lousy coffee; over disagreements about the definition of a set of pajamas, what ingredients should go in a hotdog, the appropriate time to drink a caipirinha, and who knows and who doesn't know their way back to the venue. Taking stock, my head is full of ideas and I can’t wait to meet you all again soon. I set ambitions for the future. I wish to ask questions like Marcos Silva, to chair like Vincenzo P. (to whom I do apologize for cutting in front of at the table to pay for the conference dinner!), to present with Sara's enthusiasm and to organize an event like the Buenos Aires crowd. I ditch my logic people and meet for lunch friends from Natal who had also been traveling through Argentina. We commiserate over cracked knuckles, our dry hacking cough and bloody noses (note to self: update packing list with a neti pot). Us tropical people are a delicate lot. As I make my way from the event venue to lunch, I notice the world becoming familiar again. I could have believed that I was having lunch in Brazil if only the food was saltier and the waiter friendlier. As we wait for the uber to take us to the airport, a car drives by with the hood held together by cellophane tape. The sun is shining, and it feels like I’m home already. ✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧:・゚✧ When Elaine proposed I write this post, she talked about writing fluffy stories. The overachiever that I am hopes to have captured more: stories of friendship, intrigue and intellectual mind blowing, with a hint of nostalgia. As I think on the philosophical issue of theory revision, I’m reminded of the role that history plays in this process; and not just the official history, but the real one (reading some of Feyerabend's letters was a high point for me!). As was said in the end panel, we made history last week; and I hope to have caught here some bits of this story (the part apt for public consumption, anyway). 🐧
19 Comments
Rebecca
1/8/2023 13:39:16
I laughed and cried, have I raised the bloguerinha in you well or what! Logicizing never sounded so cool! Thanks for taking me in this trip with you (under an equivalence of class). I look forward to attending more conferences in this format! (FYI the meme of the guy in the red hoodie was literally me in all the conferences you took me along in the past)
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Clarissa
1/8/2023 16:55:38
What an amazing history! I loved being immersed in the philosophy, logic, science conference and academic tourism experience.
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Laila
1/8/2023 16:59:33
Excellent! I miss reading these kind of posts, they're from a culture that's dying ;v; Very funny and informative, I felt there myself
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Victor
1/8/2023 17:04:03
Argentina would be too powerful if it had both Chorizo and good coffee
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João Mendes
1/8/2023 17:16:39
It really felt like I was part of this "brilliant minds" party! 😝😎
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Mahan
1/8/2023 18:02:18
It was me whi recommended Havanna to you. Glad to see it sparked your day! This was an amazing reading. Makes me feel like I'm living that week again. What a ride it was and there were so many pleasant moments! Hope to see everyone again in the next logic event!
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Evelyn
1/8/2023 18:13:10
Simplesmente salvou 1 vida
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Marilia
1/8/2023 18:45:06
I have been to two conferences this month, and readying this post almost makes me wish to change field of study, as you logicians seem to have so much more fun.
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Doctor Logic
5/8/2023 19:31:25
Logicians DEFINITELY know how to have the best fun at conferences! You'd be welcome any time.
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Valeria de Paiva
1/8/2023 19:47:02
Gorgeous post, Evelyn! Logic never looked so cool!
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Gisele
1/8/2023 21:12:32
Wonderful fluffy post, Evelyn.
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Edson
2/8/2023 02:14:29
It was a pleasure to have you among us during the congress. I hope you come back to visit us again!! Cariocas are nice!!!
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Sofia Meirelles
2/8/2023 02:35:33
It was such an honour to be part of Escolinha da Evelyn during those days, I learned so much about the whole conference drill, and had the chance to be around a surprising amount of fantastic people. It was such a heartwarming and hilarious experience to read this blog post (tough it set a very high bar for me hahaha). Thank you for showing us how exciting logic can be!
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JM
2/8/2023 16:50:19
Finally managed to finish reading this, while I lay at Barrancas de Belgrano and use the public wifi. The (much less bold) second week of events here in BsAs has been measuring up to the first! A fantastic crowd, at SADAF! See you soon at Floripa, Evelyn E. I am sure you have lots of tasks to accomplish over there. ;-)
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Damian Szmuc
4/8/2023 11:40:13
Amazing post! Such a pleasure to meet you in BA. See you soon!
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Doctor Logic
5/8/2023 19:18:38
This was literally the best blog post I've read in years. It brought forth all the nostalgia for the early 00s. :)
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Thiago Nascimento
5/8/2023 23:16:13
After reading this blog post I realized I must come back to the academic life asap. I with I were there with you all. The life in a bank in Faria Lima isnt so vivid and fun.
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10/8/2023 13:30:20
Saudades! Thanks, Evelyn, for this great post :) For me, the best part of this event was hanging out with you all!
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